美国人是怎么消磨时光的

【英文原文】

Americans enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. Although the United States trails other countries in such significant measures of health and wellbeing as infant mortality and life expectancy, the world generally respects—even envies—the quality of life enjoyed by most Americans.

Americans do work hard. Although the number of hours of nonwork time available to Americans has not changed significantly since the 1970s, public opinion surveys consistently report that Americans believe they have less free time today than in the past. Workers who participated in the Shell poll, a study conducted by Shell Oil Company in 2000, indicated that if given a choice between an extra day off from work or an extra day's wages every two weeks, they preferred more time off by a margin of 58% to 40%. For workers aged thirty-five to sixty-four, 67% indicated that they would rather have more time off.

Working parents report the least free time. According to the Shell Poll, only 48% of mothers believe they have enough personal leisure time. This reflects a dramatic decline from a Gallup survey conducted in 1963, when 70% of mothers were happy with their free time. Almost three-quarters of working mothers reported to Shell that on Sunday nights, after doing household chores and running errands on weekends, they do not feel rested and ready for a new work week.

In the free time Americans do have, they are sleeping less. According to Sleep in America, a survey published in 2002 by the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation, 68% of poll respondents admitted getting less than eight hours' sleep on weeknights. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed believed they were not getting the minimum amount needed to avoid feelings of drowsiness during the day.

【中文译文】

美国人喜欢世界上的一些高标准的生活质量。尽管美国在婴儿死亡率和平均寿命等一些重要的健康和福利等方面的措施落后于其他国家，总的来说人们还是非常关心甚至是嫉妒大部分美国人享受高质量的生活。

美国人的确工作很勤奋。尽管自1970年以来，美国人现有的空闲时间并没有太大的改变，但是公众舆论调查显示，美国人认为他们现在的空闲时间比过去有所减少。参加2000年壳牌石油公司组织的壳牌民意测验的工人，表示如果在每两周多一天休假的时间和每两周多一天的工资做出选择，他们中40%-58%的人希望多一天假期。对于35岁到64岁的年龄段，67%工人认为他们宁愿有更多的休息时间。双职工的家长感觉空闲时间最少。根据壳牌民意调差，只有48%的的母亲认为她们有足够的休闲的时间。这与1963年的盖洛普调查相比，比例大幅度下降，那时70%的母亲对她们的空闲时间感到满意。将近四分之三的母亲反应周日的晚上当她们做完家务琐事和处理好周末的事情以后并没有感觉到休息，并且还要为新的一周做准备。

美国人确实有空闲的时间，他们睡觉时间很少。根据《美国睡眠》调查显示，这个结果是由非营利性机构美国睡眠协会在2002年发布，68%的调查民众承认每晚的睡眠时间少于八个小时。将近四分之一的被调查者认为他们在白天没有多少人能够避免的产生睡意。